Strength of motor in blender or processor for making ice cream from frozen banana

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Strength of motor in blender or processor for making ice cream from frozen banana

Was making delicious ice cream by pureeing/blending a frozen banana (cut in pieces) in my old Oster blender (model 641). In recent years, I had noticed that the lower speed settings (among 10) were not working well (they would activate if I would choose the faster speeds then press them). Tonight, during the blending, I smelled buring and then saw smoke coming from the base of the blender. The Osterizer is an 800 watt machine and its base is very heavy. I turned to my other older appliance, a cheaper and much lighter-weight food processor, a GE processor model D1FP1-4200, even louder than my Osterizer. Wattage is 360. It was able to puree the frozen bananas and frozen blackberries. I normally add a little bit of milk, ideally less to get a more solid and yet creamy texture. With the food processor, I added more milk and the result was something between the soft serve ice cream I normally get and a smoothie. My questions are these - what minimum wattage should a person use to avoid burning out a motor used for the purpose I have described, and ... is there less drain on a motor in a food processor that has a larger diameter in its container base, and consequently longer blades cutting through what appears to be less food material? That is what I thought of - that even though the processor had a wattage of 360 watts versus the Osterizer's 800 watts, that the smaller base ( about 2 inches and each of the four blades being about 1/4 inch in length vs. the GE's 5 inch wide base and each of two processor blades about 2 inches in length with a different shape than that of the Osterizer's blender blades) in the Osterizer would put greater strain on the motor. I thought, if the Osterizer cannot blend through the frozen banana material at 800 watts, how could a lesser wattage of 360 watts do the job? The processor, perhaps due to the shape of the blades, wasn't able to cut through the last piece of frozen banana slice - I had to cut it up into finer pieces before it finally pureed it. I am looking at replacing the blender and would like to get a blender or maybe a processor that can handle this job. I have seen the Vitamix make "ice cream" but I prefer to make ice cream without ice cubes. I have seen them make ice cream only with ice cubes. Maybe it can be used to make the banana ice cream by using a slower speed. I think Cuisinart makes a highly recommended blender with a strong motor. I seldom use a blender, so I prefer to buy a blender for the purposes I plan on using it for. I have noticed the Yonana ice cream maker and see that it is recommended as being decent. I'd rather use a blender and make the ice cream in the amount I choose and add other ingredients at the same time instead of the manner described for using the Yonana. Plus - I have been fine just using one banana per recipe; the Yonana apparently requires at least two bananas to "push" the content through the machine. Has anyone else burned out a blender motor by making this frozen banana ice cream, and are there less expensive blenders that can be used? (The Nutribullet looks like it might work for this purpose, but at a price of about $110, a larger blender might be more practical, though I am sure I would use the Nutribullet to make quick healthy drinks - by the way, its motor is about 600 watts, much more powerful than the Magic Bullet.)

[Edit by me after the initial post was made ... The Oster blender appears to still be operational.I turned it back on and tested all speeds including the slower speed which turned on initiallyafter I first tested the higher speeds. I don't understand how it could have been smoking beforeand smelling of burning parts but still be operational. At first the slowest speed didn't work whenI first pressed it with the container attached. Then it did turn. I also found other discussionson this board with similar concerns regarding blenders and processors. This thread is morespecific as to the motor speed. One of the posts in the other threads referred to the contour ofthe blender container affecting the effectiveness of the blend - that a wide base with a straightup and down container side did not pull down contents well. The Osterizer I have has a narrowbase with edges expanding outward toward the top. I didn't like the fact that the base wasNARROW, causing me to frequently have to push down contents, such as when I make hummus,until the blender is able to pull down the contents on its own.)